


Bend then Break

by xhorizen



Category: Hanson (Band)
Genre: Angst and Feels, Extramarital Affairs, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-19
Updated: 2018-12-19
Packaged: 2019-09-22 13:38:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17060798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xhorizen/pseuds/xhorizen
Summary: Prompt:It's 4am and I'm drunk af in a McDonald's and you have been watching me trying to eat this burger for 30 minutesZac always calls Natalie when he's drunk - She always answers.





	Bend then Break

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly, I don't even know where this came from. I kind of dig it (is it okay to like something you wrote?) and I hope you do, too!

The first person Zac thought to call when he was drunk was always Natalie. He didn’t know why (well, he DID), and he didn’t know why he never stopped doing it, but the second he went from overly tipsy to too drunk to stand, Natalie was on the phone. To his credit, she always answered, so really, he couldn’t even be too mad at himself because she very well could have stopped the whole thing herself!

He knew the excuse sounded weak, but barely cared enough to judge himself, let alone imagine what other people would think. He spent years being the doting husband, the loving father, and he was really just over doing the right thing _all the time_. It got so old! He was roped into a marriage he didn’t want at 20 years old because he needed to “Do the right thing, Zac!” His father’s voice always bounded in his head when he thought of the fateful day he told his parents that he, too, had knocked up his girlfriend out of wedlock. Never mind that he and Kate had only hooked up once, after they broke up, because they were drunk and lonely – No, he was a Hanson, and he was always expected to do the right thing, for the sake of the family image.

 

So that’s what he did. He married Kate, she had a miscarriage, and they lived unhappily ever after. Or, at least, they lived okayish ever after. There was love in their relationship, but never the right kind, and never in the amounts needed to make an actual relationship successful. Kate was his best friend, his confidant, and he knew that she had sacrificed her entire life to make him happy. He wasn’t entirely heartless, he tried to be a good person – He gave her kids, a home, and supported her hobbies, however few and far between they were. He knew it was hard on her, basically being a single parent while he was off on tour or making an album or doing any number of other things being a professional musician entailed, and he loved her for all of it. He just wasn’t _in love_ with her, and he was sure that made him a terrible person.

 

Natalie herself was a bit of a surprise. He had never been attracted to her when he was younger – He didn’t have anything against her, of course not, she was smart and sweet, but she was all over Taylor the second they met and so she got placed into the untouchable box. He grew to think of her like an older sister, and went to her when he had questions about girls, specifically Kate, it was pretty convenient that his girlfriend’s best friend was his new sister-in-law, after all. Natalie helped him navigate first relationship woes, talked to him about their fights, explaining things from a women’s perspective, and he appreciated her so much for it. Even when he told her that he was going to break up with Kate, she was fully supportive, knowing how miserable they were together. He cried into her shoulder that night, at 19 years old, mourning the loss of the only girl he had thought he loved. She had slipped him a beer or two (and maybe even a third and a fourth) and held his hair back as he drank too much too fast and threw everything up in her and Taylor’s guestroom bathroom toilet. He had expected her to tell his parents, or at least tell Taylor, about his incident, but when no one brought it up, he realized he had gained something more than a sister-in-law – He had gained a friend.

 

After that night, they began a new quasi-tradition – Any time he was drunk, he would call her and talk about anything and everything that was on his mind. The first few times, when he rang after midnight, he never expected her to pick up – She had had young kids, and a distracted husband – But once he realized she would always answer, he tried not to abuse it. Year after year, they grew closer, moving on from talking about their families and jobs to their hopes and desires, as cheesy as it sounded. He learned more about her in their late night phone calls than he had ever learned about his own wife in the time they had been married. It was around the time Natalie was pregnant with her and Taylor’s fourth child and Kate was pregnant with hers and his first child that Zac realized he was in love with her. Not just a small crush, or a rush of affection because they were friends, but full blown, break up the family and run away together in love. He was shocked at the revelation, though he realized he had felt that way for a while, and didn’t talk to her for three weeks. It wasn’t until she brought lunch for them at the studio that she managed to corner him in his office that they spoke again.

 

“Zachary Walker Hanson, I don’t know what your problem is, but I’m over it!” She stormed into his office and closed the door behind her as she threw his bag of food onto the desk in front of him. His eyes popped open and he scooted back from his desk, holding his hands up in surrender.

 

“I didn’t do anything!” Of course he was lying, he knew exactly what she was referring to, but it was easier to pretend to be innocent – Kate let him get away with it all the time, and it made their lives a lot more peaceful.

 

“Bullshit, Hanson, you’ve been avoiding me!” Natalie stepped around his desk and stood in front of him, arms crossed in front of her chest and one foot tapping on the floor.

 

“I have not! I’ve been busy. We’ve all been busy!” He tried to rope Taylor and Isaac into it, to remind her that she hadn’t seen her husband in about the same amount of time she had seen him, but she just shook her head, disagreeing.

 

“Please don’t insult my intelligence, Zac, you know exactly what I’m talking about, you huge jerk!” He thought about continuing to deny it, but instead, just let his head fall as his gaze fell to the floor. He shrugged and crossed his own arms over his chest, wanting something to protect him from the onslaught of angry woman. He felt Natalie’s anger leave her as she sighed and leaned back against his desk, putting a little more space between them. “Did I do something to upset you?” Her voice was weak and she sounded like she might cry, which caused Zac to finally look back up at her.

 

“You didn’t do anything, Nat.” He tried to keep his voice even so as not to betray any emotion, but then it cracked and he felt a lump form in his throat, and he squeezed his eyes shut, trying to keep it together.

 

“Then why do you look like I’ve just killed your dog?” She reached out and put her hands over his, causing a jolt to go through him. He looked up into her eyes and bit his lip, shaking his head.

 

“I-I can’t say, Nat, I really can’t say.” He wanted to pull away from her touch, but the selfish part of him wanted to enjoy it, knowing it would be his only chance.

 

“Zac, please.” She kneeled down so that she was on her knees in front of him, and in spite of himself, he couldn’t help but be in awe – He couldn’t imagine doing that in his own shape, let alone at almost seven months pregnant. “Please don’t lie to me. I thought we were closer than that.” All of his resolve to keep quiet dissolved - he couldn’t let her think he didn’t care!

 

“I love you, Nat.” The words came out a lot easier than he thought they would. He had imagined the scenario in which he told her hundreds of times, and each time, he could barely get them out before she was slapping him and running away. He avoided looking into her face, but then her fingers were under his chin, forcing him to meet her eyes, and he saw… Kindness? Hope? … Love?

 

“Oh Zac.” She sighed again and leaned into him, wrapping her arms around his stomach with her head laying on his chest. Instinctively he wrapped his arms around her and pressed his face into her hair, breathing it in as he started to cry.

 

“I’m sorry, Nat, I didn’t mean to.” He whispered all sorts of apologies to her, but didn’t let his grip loosen at all. They stayed together for what felt like forever, but eventually Natalie groaned under her breath and pulled away.

 

“Sorry, the baby is kicking and isn’t too happy with this position anymore.” She tried to get up, wincing as she struggled to get to her feet. Zac stood up and helped her up, not letting her go even after she was stable.

 

“Does this change everything?” Natalie looked up at him and shook her head, tears shining in her eyes.

 

“I love you, too, Zac.” His jaw dropped, in all of the scenarios he had run over, not a single one of them involved her reciprocating his feelings. “But what can we do?” She looked down at her swollen belly and placed a hand on it as the tears started to fall down her face. Zac covered her hand with his own and wrapped his free arm around her shoulders, holding her as though he had a right to for just a little while.

 

\--

 

He had called her a few hours before from a friend’s house, too drunk to even find his car keys, and asked that she pick him up to bring him home. He was sure he heard something that sounded suspiciously like “We are too damn old for his nonsense” from her side of the phone, but he simply smiled as she stayed on the phone with him, getting dressed as she muttered obscenities under her breath at him. He knew he was pushing his luck, it was Taylor’s 35th birthday and he was pulling her away from her family, but he knew she would come – She always came. They drove past a Whataburger on the way back to his place and he practically jumped out of the window pointing at it. He begged her to pull into the drive thru and she had rolled her own eyes at him, but smiled and did as he had asked.

 

Once they ordered (rather, once HE ordered), they pulled into a parking space and she unbuckled her seatbelt, angling herself so that she was facing him as he attempted to eat his food.

 

“You know, it’s 4am and I’ve been watching you try to eat that burger for the past 30 minutes.” Natalie’s voice was teasing and Zac simply looked up at her and rolled his eyes.

 

“Whataburger shouldn’t make their burgers so fucking messy then, should they?” He looked down at the mess in his hands and then down into his lap, where a good majority of the sandwich lay, and shrugged. “Whatever, it still tastes good.” He took another bite out of the food in his hands and managed to finish everything he had ordered without too much more fuss.

 

“Now you get the heck out of this car and shake that food off into the grass, Zac! You’re not getting lettuce and burger bun all over my car.” Zac rolled his eyes again, but popped the door open and jumped out.

 

“ _Yes, mom._ ” He mocked as he brushed his hands over his shirt and jeans. The jeans were covered in yellow and red stains and a frown overtook his face. “Crap, I just washed these! They had at least four more wears out of them!” He looked up at the woman in the driver’s seat as she threw her head back and laughed.

 

“You’re disgusting!” She exclaimed as he climbed back into the car.

 

“Yeah, but you love me.” He smiled and leaned over the center console, pressing his still condiment covered lips to hers. She squealed and tried to jerk away, but he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close, not letting her go. They kissed for a minute, their touches becoming more and more insistent and before he broke away from her and glanced into the back seat. “Do you feel like pretending to be in high school?” He wiggled his eyebrows at her and got out of the car again, practically hopping into the back seat.

 

“Zac, no, come on, it’s super late, we need to get home before anyone realizes I’m gone!”

It was Zac’s turn to throw his head back in laughter while he patted the seat next to him. 

“Come on, Nat. We never have time to do this anymore, you know you want to do it as much as I do.” A mischievous look formed in his eye as he reached out his hand to her. “Please? I really miss you.” Natalie heaved a sigh, but finally she opened the driver’s side door to exit the car and got back in in the back seat. 

“You realize you’re lucky all of the kids car seats are in Taylor’s car this week, right?” Zac laughed as he crawled over the seat, hovering over her. 

“You call it luck, I call it fate.” Their lips met in a fierce kiss, Zac hadn’t been lying when he said they rarely had time to be together anymore – The band was busy more and more lately, making it that much harder to justify being away from his wife and kids when they were home. As Natalie’s hands made their way up the back of his shirt, he shivered, remembering just how much he loved her touch. She bent her knees so that she could lean back against the door of the car and Zac practically paid on them, slotting one of her legs between his, providing enough friction to make him moan. “God, I missed you.” He reached up and grasped the side of her face, keeping them locked together for a moment. When she started pulling on his shirt, he leaned back and let it be pulled off, tossed to the front of the car. 

“I love you.” She murmured as he started pulling on her leggings, anxious to see her body. He looked up into her eyes as his hand slipped into her panties and smiled. 

“I love you, too.” 

 

\--

 

Zac paced back and forth in his office at the studio. Natalie had called him and told him they needed to talk, and seeing as he had been around women his entire life, he knew he was about to hear something he really didn’t want to. Maybe Taylor had found out about their affair? Worse, maybe his mother had found out?! He ran his hands through his hair again and again, he was already on edge because of Hanson Day and Hop Jam preparation, and Natalie’s phone call didn’t help at all. He heard the front door open and shut and immediately he stopped pacing, staring at the open door of his office until she appeared. He tried to smile, to do anything to reassure the situation, but one look at her face told him a smile wouldn’t even begin to fix what was wrong. 

They walked toward each other and practically collided, their arms wrapping around each other. “What happened?” He forced himself to ask. He wanted to be selfish and to never find out, but it wasn’t fair to Natalie to have to know if he didn’t, right? 

“We really fucked up, Zac.” His stomach tightened at her words, she was never one to curse too much, and when she used the “F” word, it always meant serious business. 

“D-Did Taylor find out?” He pulled back from their embrace enough to be able to look her in the face and she shook her head no. 

“But he’s going to.” She whispered as tears came to her eyes. He screwed up his face in confusion, knowing he probably looked as dumb as he felt. 

“I don’t get what you mean.” Natalie bit her lip before letting her arms drop from his waist and to her belly. 

“I’m pregnant.” She looked down at her hands and Zac had a strange sense of déjà vu, flashing back to when they had admitted their feelings for each other. 

“Is it mine?” He shook his head and looked down at the ground. “Shit, I’m sorry, stupid question, you wouldn’t be telling me this if…” Natalie interrupted him. 

“I don’t know.” She glanced back up into his eyes and he tried to hold them, but couldn’t. He was feeling so many emotions at once, shock at the pregnancy, a vague sense of happiness, and then a strong sense of jealousy. Toward his own brother. For possibly being the father to that baby. His _wife’s_ baby.

“What are we going to do?” 

“What is that supposed to mean?!” Natalie’s head snapped up and her eyes were glaring daggers at him. “I’m not having an abortion, Zac, I can’t believe you would even ask such a thing!” 

“Well excuse me for asking the obvious question!” He felt his anger rising, but tried to control it. He wasn’t mad at her, he was mad at the situation, and yelling at her wouldn’t do either of them any good. He turned around and sat down in his desk chair before nudging the one next to him out to Natalie. “Please sit.” She looked at him and looked like she wanted to refuse, but then gave in and joined him. They sat in silence for a few minutes, though Zac could barely even himself think. 

“This wasn’t supposed to happen.” Natalie’s words sounded almost like an apology, but Zac didn’t want to hear that. 

“You’re going to let him think it’s his.” It wasn’t a question, but a statement, and the second the words were out of his mouth, he knew it was the truth. 

“I don’t have any other choice.” 

“Yes, you do.” He looked up at her and reached out, taking one of her hands in his, squeezing it tightly. “We can be together, Nat. Just like we’ve wanted to.” They had spoken about divorcing their respective spouses to be together before, but knew it would never work – It just wasn’t the Hanson way. 

“Maybe in another life.” She moved the chair so that she was able to lay her head on Zac’s shoulder. “He’s been wanting another one for a while, ya know. He’s going to be so happy.” Zac closed his eyes as he lay his cheek on the top of her head and nodded. 

“I don’t ever want to know one way or another.” He knew he was being a jerk, that was probably the last thing on her mind, but he was allowing himself one more selfish request. 

“This baby is Taylor’s, Zac. They always will be.” They pulled away from each other at the same time and Zac gave her a sorrowful glance as she got up and walked to the office door. 

“I love you.” He called after her, knowing it was the last time. 

“I love you, too. Good bye, Zac.”


End file.
